On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day let us all reflect on “The Dream” and the fact that we as a Nation have come a long way since the 1960′s. We are a much better country for it. However, that does not mean that we do not still have more to do and will most likely always will. MLK Jr’s message goes out to all people, not just one message to blacks or another to whites. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, do not let others interpret that dream for you. Do not let those with an agenda that is far from “The Dream” to make you feel less or call you something that you are not. Martin Luther King Jr. was correct, it is never about the color of one’s skin, it is always about the content of one’s character. Always! That means the character of those who would lie to you or highjack “The Dream” for their own purposes. Those who are divisive and keep races at each other do a disservice to Martin Luther King, Jr.

August 28, 1963

Full text of MLK Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech can be read here.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

From CNN comes the unheard tapes from MLK Jr. circa 1960. Martin Luther King Jr. discusses the peaceful Civil Rights movement and called the movement represents struggle on the highest level of dignity and discipline.

From FOX News: On MLK Day – let’s celebrate all that has changed in 50 years.

On Sunday, Georgia Congressman John Lewis, the last surviving speaker from the 1963 March, spoke to that startling reality:

“I feel more than lucky but very blessed to be able to stand here 50 years later and to see the progress we have made,” Lewis said. “And just to see the changes have occurred. If someone had told me 50 years ago that an African-American would be in the White House as the president, I probably would have said ‘You’re crazy. You are out of your mind. You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ The country is a different country, and we’re better people.”

In fact, outstanding African-Americans have broken through doors previously closed to all people of color in the past 50 years.

In government, we have had two black Supreme Court Justices, several Cabinet secretaries, two governors, six senators and dozens of people in Congress. We have a black president twice elected by the Americans people – who, as many have noted, could have been owned by our first 16 presidents as property.

The following VIDEO has excepts from from many different MLK speeches and this interview and has some incredibly interesting comments that all should take a listen to. What many do not understand is that MLK’s words do not just speak to the black Civil Rights movement. They speak to everyone.

“We are in a separate phase where we are seeking genuine equality. Where we are dealing with hard economic and social issues.”

Its more easy to integrate a lunch counter than it is guarantee an annual income. [...] It’s easier to integrate a bus than it is to get a program that will force a government to put billions of dollars to ending slums.”

“I weight the criticisms that I would get. I thought about even the fact that some Negros would not understand. And some respectable Negro Leaders who are more concerned about being invited to the White House than invited to the cause of justice would be against me.”

Unlike others, I do not begin to speak for Martin Luther King Jr. and how he would act or what he would say in today’s world. So many are quick to say that he would be for increasing the minimum wage because he spoke of the Poor People’s Campaignwhich was a multiracial effort to address poverty in the nation by demanding a $30 billion antipoverty package, including full employment and the annual construction of 500,000 affordable residences. I don’t think so. The US has had a ‘War on Poverty’since 1964 and the LBJ years. However, 50 years later it has been a failure.

I believe that Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of his word and wanted true equality for his people. I do not believe that he wanted them back on the plantation and subject to a life of dependency on welfare programs. True equality does not come from a hand out, it comes from a hand up. Equality does not come from being forced to live in government housing. Equality comes from a strong family unit, an education, morality, a want and desire to get ahead and believing in something greater than yourself. The US has spent trillionsin the War on Poverty and has gotten no where. The welfare state has been a disaster for “The Dream”. Sorry, I do not believe for one second that MLK’s “DREAM” had the notion that blacks would become part of a voting block and completely dependent upon the government. JMO.

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